Again. We are here. Again. It is not just the again because of the cyclical nature of our liturgical calendar. It is not just the again because of the rotation and revolution of our planet. It is not just again like our daily habit of brushing our teeth. It is not just again like our commute to work or school. It is not just again like the laundry, the vacuuming, or emptying the trash. It is the beneath and the above and the through—all these agains where life is.
The over and over again give us opportunities to experience and embody the relationship God gives to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. We hear, we read, these words from 2 Corinthians, " So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.... All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ... that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself..."
This flourish of theological insight Paul writes to the church in Corinth is in the midst of troubles. He retells the Good News about God's gift of reconciliation, perhaps the heartbeat of Paul's words to this community of faith and to us, in the middle of relationship angst and hurt. This timbre drums through this letter, this rather challenging letter. Since two millennia have passed since the lives of Paul and the Christians in Corinth, the details of this one-sided communication are often difficult to interpret, but what we read and infer is that they experienced some difficulties among and between them. We, too, are familiar with this, our life together, our sin and our brokenness.
In the midst of our brokenness, we reflect. In the midst of our sin, we repent. In the midst of our life together, we worship. We gather together again in the sanctuary in the midst of struggles. We stand together again on the wooden floor in the midst of angst. We pray together again in the midst of waiting and wondering. We sing the Doxology in the midst of being reconciled and being made new again.
Written by Marja Houston
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